Pritchard, James B. (James Bennett), 1909-1997

Locating the site of Ancient Gibeon (El-Jib) in Jordan was perhaps James Pritchard’s most notable accomplishment. This identification was made based on the discovery of the city name in Hebrew script on the handles of wine-storage jars found at the site. Pritchard conducted research at ancient Gibeon (El-Jib) for five field seasons from 1956-1962 with the hope of further linking the archaeological remains found at the site with events mentioned in the Bible. In total, ancient Gibeon is mentioned 43 times in the Bible and is repeatedly described as the scene of dramatic events. For example, the Bible depicts how the people of Gibeon deceived Joshua, obtained a peace treaty from him, and ultimately saved their city from the same destruction endured by other cities such as Jericho and Ai. Further events included Joshua’s command that “Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon” during a battle with the Amorite Kings, as well as a tournament between the rival forces of Joab and Abner that took place at the “pool at Gibeon.”

Until Pritchard decided to excavate this site in the 1950’s, two primary theories regarding the archaeological site present at modern day El-Jib prevailed. The first was put forward by an American explorer, Edward Robinson, who proposed that because of El-Jib’s location and the similarity in sound between the Arabic “Jib” and the Hebrew “Gibeon,” the archaeological site at El-Jib must be the location of ancient Gibeon. The second theory, postulated by the German biblical scholar Professor Albrecht Alt of Leipzig, argued that the archaeological site at El-Jib was instead the biblical city of Beeroth. Despite the disagreement regarding the identity of this ancient site, there was no doubt of its importance. Its size, a fifty-meter mound over 16 acres, marked it as one of the larger cities of ancient Palestine.

In 1956, Pritchard began an exploratory expedition at El-Jib. Funded by the University Museum and a grant from the Pew Foundation, and armed with a scientific staff of nine, seven other men who had previously excavated at Jericho and Dhiban, and another seventy local men, Pritchard was faced with the task of determining a viable dig location with no above-ground architectural markers. The expedition began with Trench III, located in an area immediately north of the mound and near the spring that feeds the present-day village of El-Jib. Pritchard postulated correctly that occupation, at any period, would be located near the water source.

Multiple important discoveries were made during the five field seasons at Gibeon, including three prominent architectural features: the tunnel, the pool, and the city wall. The tunnel allowed access to a protected reservoir during times of siege when the city occupants could block the outside entrance to the cavern reservoir and exclusively use a tunnel extending from the reservoir to the interior city square. Provisions were made to facilitate this process; grooves were cut into the sides and floor of the tunnel entrance so that stones could be dropped quickly to barricade the outside opening.

The pool at Gibeon is a roughly round shape with a maximum diameter of 11.5 meters. There is a staircase running along the side of the pool that contains 42 steps, the first 10 of which show significant wear and may indicate where the natural water level fell. No surface water source was found for the pool and Pritchard concluded that the pool was filled either through a subterranean spring source or though slave labor. Because of the massive task of emptying the pool fill and the restriction of work space in this area, Pritchard split his work crew into two shifts of 40 men excavating in shifts from 5:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. and then from 12:00 P.M. to 6:30 P.M. It was from the archaeological materials found in the pool that Pritchard was able to definitively determine the identity of the ancient site at El-Jib. Jar handles were found in the pool fill that contained, in 7th-8th century Hebrew script, the name “Gibeon” as well as the name and address of the citizens who owned to materials.

Finally, Pritchard also found evidence for the city’s primary defense system-the city wall. The city wall was laid on bedrock and had a width of 3.5 meters. An inner wall was then built which widened the defensive structure to 8 meters. It is probable that the city wall dates to the 8th century.

James B. Pritchard was born in Louisville, KY on October, 4, 1909. He was educated at Ashbury College (BA, 1930), Drew University (BD, 1935), and finally, the University of Pennsylvania (PhD, 1942). His subsequent academic focus involved the relationship between archaeological remains and biblical studies. His professional positions included: the Crozer Theological Seminary (1942-1954), the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (1954-1962), and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, at which he held the positions of the first Curator of Biblical Archaeology, Professor of Religious Thought, Associate Director (1967-1976), and Director (1976-1977).

James Pritchard’s primary fieldwork was sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania Museum and included three sites in the Near East dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period, including ancient Gibeon (El-Jib) and Tell es Sa’idiyeh in Jordan, and ancient Sarepta (Sarafand) in Lebanon.

After his retirement from the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1978, the Museum endowed a chair in his honor (The James B. Pritchard Chair for Biblical Archaeology and Related Fields). James Pritchard died on January 1, 1997.

James Bennett Pritchard (October 4, 1909 – January 1, 1997) was an American archeologist whose work explicated the interrelationships of the religions of ancient Palestine, Canaan, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Pritchard was honored with the Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Archaeological Achievement in 1983 from the Archaeological Institute of America.[1]

He had a long association with the University of Pennsylvania, where he was professor of religious thought and the first curator of Biblical archaeology at the University Museum. Pritchard's strength lay in setting the Bible within its broader cultural contexts in the Ancient Near East. Pritchard was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1973.[2] In 1977 Pritchard received an honorary doctorate from the Faculty of Theology at Uppsala University, Sweden.[3]

Pritchard authored the book Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, which was released in three editions (1950, 1955, 1969), universally referred to as ANET, which provided reliable translations of texts that threw light on the context of Ancient Near Eastern history and the Hebrew Bible.

Early life and education
Pritchard was born in Louisville, Kentucky; he graduated from Asbury College in 1930, and earned his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania (1942).

Career
Pritchard's archaeological reputation began to be established by his excavations at a site called el-Jib (1956–1962). He identified it as Gibeon by inscriptions on the Al Jib jar handles. He cataloged these in Hebrew Inscriptions and Stamps From Gibeon (1959), which included the first in-depth discussion of concentric-circle incisions on jar handles associated with LMLK seals. He explained the significance of his finds for a general audience in Gibeon: Where the Sun Stood Still (1962).

He followed (1964–1967) with excavations at Tell es-Sa'idiyeh, on the east bank in the Jordan Valley, Jordan, which revealed itself as a meeting place for disparate cultures during the transition in the late Bronze Age to the use of iron, which he connected to the influence of the Sea Peoples ("New evidence on the role of the Sea Peoples in Canaan at the Beginning of the Iron Age"), in The Role of the Phoenicians, 1968. His work was cut short by the 1967 Six-Day War.

His third and last major excavation at Sarafand, Lebanon (1969–1974) revealed the ancient Phoenician city of Sarepta. It was the first time a major Phoenician city situated in the Phoenician heartland had been fully excavated. His first findings were published in 1975: he described pottery workshops and kilns, artifacts of daily use and religious figurines, a shrine, numerous inscriptions that included some in Ugaritic, and a seal with the city's name that made the identification secure. His article, "Sarepta in history and tradition" in Understanding the Sacred Texts (1972) displays his characteristic research. His book Recovering Sarepta, an Ancient Phoenician City (1978) was written for general readers.

Additional works included Archaeology and the Old Testament (1958), which traced the evolution of modern approaches to archaeology from the first excavations in the Holy Land; and Solomon and Sheba (1974), which separated fact from legend.

Prior to his tenured appointment to the University of Pennsylvania, Pritchard taught at Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania, 1942–1954, as the chair of Old Testament History and Exegesis. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote an essay about the prophet Jeremiah for his course on the Old Testament.[4] He also taught at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, California (1954–1962).

An appreciation of James B. Pritchard appeared in the American Journal of Archaeology, Volume 102, Number 1 (January 1998, pages 175–177).[5]